


Esther

by Pearly_Pornography



Category: Coraline - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:25:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5451662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearly_Pornography/pseuds/Pearly_Pornography
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Behind the door, someone creeps. She's listening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> based on a pretty weird concept: Coraline came from an incredibly average family. However, if someone were to be of a less privileged upbringing, the decision to return home might be less simple.
> 
> Meet Esther, kids.

There was very little noise around here. The middle of nowhere sounded like an accurate name for this place.

Fog dressed the horizon in an endless mess of watery mist as the car stopped by the building. The pink paint was clearly chipping, the wooden complex barely holding itself together. _No wonder,_ the little girl thought, _that this was very very cheap._ The car stopped a foot or two away from the building, followed by a little truck filled with their various furniture.

Her father threw the man in the car a dollar.

"Thanks for movin' the stuff, Marty."

"Dun' mention it." Marty grinned. She tried to count how many of his teeth were actually real, but couldn't exactly tell. "I'll always help ya out if y'need it."

Dad's slack-jawed hick of a friend drove off as soon as everything was moved inside. Esther stood, ginger-haired, freckled, dressed in a hideous Hannukah sweater from her aunt and some polka-dotted rain boots. She wore little decorative animal gloves made by her friend Maude from over in Colorado, and a couple of clips to keep her horribly frizzy locks out of her eyes. 

The inside of the house was barely decorated. Cracks and more paint chips dotted the walls, along with some rooms carrying a slightly ugly wallpaper. It seemed somewhat like the house ones distant, Italian grandmother would live in. However, she was at the perky age of 11, and couldn't imagine residing within such a boring landscape.

She finally had her own bedroom away from her little brother, which was a plus. She found numerous blankets in the closets, despite them being incredibly dusty. She had already decorated her own bedroom, and had little interest unpacking the rest of the house. Her mother, Delores, was easily dealing with it downstairs. How does one fix furniture with a bottle of scotch in her hand? It seemed like all too much work in Esther's mind.

Her big brother, Rudy, was off in their new living room putting in college applications. The youngest of the family, Nicky, was checking out the new carpets and drawing with his various crayons. Esther had already attempted to teach Nicky to draw properly, and it failed. Her father was wadded into a lump on the couch with a lit cigarette in his hands. He had already claimed this couch as his territory by hastily falling asleep on it in the middle of the day. Mother, however, was off in one of the various bedrooms smelling strongly of whiskey as she cleaned up the remaining furniture.

"...Mom!"

She shouted down the hallway. Her mother came shambling to the living room, face as red as a sunset. "Mom, uh...is there anything you need me to do?"

"Nope." She answered candidly, taking a swig of the hard liquor. "Thanks for askin', though..." Esther shrugged her shoulders, reclining into the side of the couch. Nicky had begun to sing the theme song of some show he liked, however, he only knew the first line. It was rather aggravating.

"Is there anythin' fun t' do here?"

"Uh..." Mother gazed at her fingers, blinking for a moment. "Dunno."

"Are you serious?"

"Shhh, don't wake your dad." She shuffled away towards the door. "Maybe go out or somethin'."

Esther pressed her face to the window. Mist sat as far as the eye could see, covering the surrounding area of the complex in a white, almost foamy sheet. For all she knew this town was full of serial killers. However, the indoors were beginning to bore her, and at the very least she wanted Rudy to take the blame for his poorly disciplined younger brother. So she dashed out of the doorway as hastily as her legs could carry her.


	2. The Vietnamese Roach-Eater and the Heartless Martyr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Esther goes out and meets some interesting people.

It was somewhat cold. It seemed that this area had the perpetual sensation of almost feeling like it would begin to rain, but rarely committing to that. For lack of anything better to do, she decided to take the low footpath past a craggy, jagged cliff of rocks prodding into the clouded sky. Aside from a well, she found very little of interest. Sadly, a well doesn't lead to very much exploration in the long run.

Beneath the heavy layers of fog she began to discover all sorts of wildlife. Mostly slugs, snails, and other various invertebrates. They were large slugs, yes, but Esther wouldn't try handling them for all the tea in China.

The quest for something interesting actually became so when she discovered a corpse. Not a human, but a cockroach. Split cleanly in half, to boot! What kind of freaks were living around here? She found, beside it was a trail of heavy footprints in the mud. She began to follow the trail with her face buried deep beneath the mist.

She could almost assume someone had been performing a ritual here. In the mud, a star was drawn, a brilliant "6-6-6" written on a sheet of paper in red marker. A goat had been tied to a nearby tree, which she guessed was either a pending sacrifice or the local football mascot. A nun's habit was thrown across the faux-pentagram. Judging by the material, Esther could tell it was most likely from a Halloween store. It was, after all, that time of year.

"Hey!" Someone shouted behind her. She turned around, scared out of her wits, and rose her palm to backhand the sucker! They barely reacted, since they were wearing some sort of plastic devil mask on their face. (Again, another Halloween store find, most likely.) 

"You broke into our game..."

"G...game?" Esther spat at the second girl talking, who was dressed rather inappropriately in the remaining nun costume. 

"Yeah! See, me and Trinh-Dieu have to take turns thinking of one thing, and then we make game out of it!"

"I thought of cockroaches, and she thought of satanic rituals." The masked one - Trinh-Dieu, most likely - nodded her head in agreement. "So we played a game where we each tried to find the biggest roach, and then we started videotaping a virgin sacrifice!"

Esther blinked for a moment, silently internalizing whatever the hell Trinh-Dieu just said. She could only come to one conclusion: These two were absolute weirdos. "Hey! Pat! What's that thing in the sacrificial lamb's mouth?" Trinh-Dieu pointed to the goat.

"I didn't notice. Lemme check!"

The nun - Pat, right? - ambled towards the goat, who just looked rather tired at this point. "Alright, sacrificial lamb, cough up the thingy!" She pried its jaws apart, then pulling something out of its mouth. It was a doll.

"Hey, Carrot-top." Trinh-Dieu pointed at the doll. "Looks just like you!"

It was true. Even under the sweater, there was Esther's favorite t-shirt. She wore the mittens, and had the scruffy red hair, and the boots. There were freckles, and scars, and bruises as though it was made with her in mind. The only difference were her eyes. Two black buttons sewn into her sweet face were her eyes. Esther gazed at it, pulling the doll out of Pat's hands.

"...What on earth..."

"I bet some guy saw you driving by and thought you were hot shi-"

"Oh, stop that, Trinh-Dieu!" Pat stamped on Trinh-Dieu's foot, causing her to flinch only very slightly. When Esther looked, she noticed Trinh-Dieu didn't actually have a real foot. Just a big metal stick with something attached to it. "Ah, it's 3 already?"

"Oh, it is? I have to go finish summer homework."

"Come on! We still have to introduce the newbie!"

Esther opened her mouth...and then closed it again...and then spoke. "It's fine, really."

"No, it isn't!" Pat stamped her foot, almost irrationally angry. "You missed Trinny eating a roach!" Esther stared at the halved insect corpse. Oh...so that's what happened. She threw it into the silky mist.

"I really should go." 

"But we never even got your name!"

"...Esther. Esther Ross."

"Okay then, Ezra! We'll see you tomorrow! Trinny, can you untie the lamb?"

Esther blinked. Her name was not Ezra. But she shrugged it off, deciding to turn heel. These people were too weird. Besides, she had to give Little Esther a new home in her bedroom. With any luck she WOULDN'T see Trinh-Dieu and Pat tomorrow.


	3. The Secret Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Father is displeased.

She hadn't planned to explore much longer after abandoning the little freakshow. However, peeking around was entertaining for short spurts and intervals. In the end, this place had little to offer. Her adventure ended when she stumbled over numerous craggy rocks.

Her face dribbled slightly with claret as she reached solid ground. Something had inflated into a rough bruise on her mouth, and her lip split harshly like a two-way river. And then she felt something...licking her face.

This used to be a very petless house, apparently. However, due to more spacious apartments finally being rented out, people began bringing in dogs and such. Thus she wasn't surprised to see one. From her occasional readings of animal books, she gathered this thing was a _xoloitzcuintli_ , or Mexican hairless dog. By its side was a cat, though heavily deformed in face. A tortoiseshell, it seemed. The two creatures immediately scampered off as she began to get up.

Poor cat. It was missing almost its entire face.

Her mouth now hurting immensely, she finally decided to return home. It wasn't hard to navigate this place, especially when Esther began to leave a trail of pastel rabbit beads behind her.

Upon rearriving at her new home, she noticed that already some indescribable gunk had graced the new windows. This most likely meant that mother had resumed her wonderful habit of drinking until she became ill all over the house. Nobody wanted to clean it, therefore nobody would.

Suddenly she saw her father's gaping eye through the spots of clean glass. He was not happy. Through the walls she heard an enraged "ESTHER!"

Her father's wrath was nearly unmatched by any other living creature. She debated making a run for it, maybe those two weirdos would house her for the night. But an even scarier thought was what might come when she returned a day later. She swallowed roughly, stepping back into her new home.

Dad's face was red in the middle. She felt like a gladiator fighting a tiger, she wanted to draw her sword and shield, and run away. But gladiators hadn't existed in years.

"What the fuck is that  _thing_ you just let in."

Esther cocked a brow, turning around... shit! The stupid fucking cat followed her. She made sure her gloves were on tightly before picking up the cat and dropping it off outside. Its short legs hindered its speed, and she got the front door shut just in time. "You realize you tracked mud into our  _new_ house."

"I forgot to take off my sh--"

 _Clap_. Right against her face. It wouldn't bruise. Dad never left bruises unless he was really,  _really_ pissed. Rudy usually got it worse than she did, anyway. Probably because he was a boy. 

"I was too busy thinking about doing my room, dad."

"Well, is your goddamn room done?"

"Yeah."

He reached into one of many duffel bags, throwing down what appeared to be a few cleaning products. 

"Clean up everything. And take those goddamn boots off." He walked away, most likely to drink his misery or something. She grumbled, kicking her boots off and setting Little Esther on a small table. She cursed whoever built this place for filling it with white carpets. She'd ask Rudy or Nicky for help, but they never helped with anything. Rudy was too preoccupied and Nicky was too much of a ratfink bastard.

Covering a few paper towels with some dish detergent and warm water, she bent down to toil over the mud stains. She was Cinderella, tormented by her wicked family, and one day a prince would see her true potential and carry her away. Regardless of any of that fantasy nonsense, she had work to do. She tugged her sweater off. She didn't want to get her  _Ahh! Real Monsters_ t-shirt dirty, but cleaning out the small entrance room shirtless was probably a no-no.

Sigh.

She managed to get through three-quarters of the room before an hour had gone by. At worst, she'd just go through with a vacuum once the remaining mud dried. All that remained were the tracks just outside her bedroom door. She crawled over to get to it, and laid her eyes on a near wall. A wall with... an odd square protrusion. She crawled over. It had a keyhole, thinly covered by a layer of wallpaper.

Finally, something worth looking at.

Reaching forward to try and break the paper, she was taken aback by a loud scratching on the front door. And when she shuffled back and peered through the decorative glass, she saw that damn hairless dog. What could it possibly want? It had to belong to  _someone_. 

Whatever.

She opted to ignore the scratching, and figured that the damn thing would get sick of it eventually. There were more important things. Like that  _secret door_. Mom had put all of the new house keys on her key ring earlier, so maybe that'd help. Sneaking to the kitchen, she grabbed a small knife and the keyring, and then sneaked back. As quietly as she could, she carved out the wallpaper with the knife, then looking through the array of keys on the ring.

Something didn't look right.

There was a black key she'd never seen before. Maybe this was it? It sure did look like a secret key to a secret door, with a little button on the end. And when she jammed it through the paper, it  _fit._ Frankly, this was the most excitement she'd had since she got here, and she'd witnessed an attempted goat sacrifice. She turned it with a clank, and then pulled back, eyes aglow with unparalleled enthusiasm...

Plaster. Plaster and brick.

_Motherfucker._

She closed the secret door. She turned around to put the knife away, but was stricken once again with shock.

"Nicky! Where the hell did you come from?!"

"The bathroom." He looked past her. "What'cha doing."

"Nothing."

"Lemme see."

She backed against the secret door.

"None of your business!"

"Lemme see, fatty."

"Get bent."

"You know dad says not to touch the knives."

"So?"

"I'll tell."

"Don't you dare."

God, this fucking little monster was a master manipulator. 

"Then show me what's behind you."

She grunted, finally moving to the side. Nicky knelt down, staring at the door. "Dad's gonna kill you for cutting up the wallpaper. What's even back here? Is it candy?"

"Nothing's back there. Just wall."

He still pulled the little door back. Nothing but plaster. "See? I told you. Nothing. Now go away!" She shoved Nicky a little bit. He stuck his tongue out, called her fat, and ran away to do whatever.  _Stupid._ He was the absolute worst.

She grumbled, scraping at the remaining mud until it was mostly gone. 

She'd deal with the other rooms later.

-

Dinner was nothing. Her parents  _never_ made dinner. Usually it was Rudy's job, but he was insanely busy for the time being. Esther found a few dollars in her  _Moomin_ piggy bank and figured there had to be someplace around here that she could get some food. Nicky was capable of sustaining himself on whipped cream alone, so he could just do whatever he wanted. Esther was sick of him for the day, and hopefully she wouldn't have to buy him dinner in the future.

Speaking of which, she  _really_ needed to pick up her paper delivery job in this town. Soon.

It was still cold and misty outside. The moon had already risen, as was law in the winter months. Of course, the issue was that it wasn't winter, it was late October. The weird cat had finally left. At the very least, that was out of the way. There was nothing even resembling lights on the building, so she was stuck navigating her way around the building blind. 

"Boo."

"Motherfu--" She dropped her shoulder bag, turning around. "Who the heck are you."

"It's Trinh-Dieu. Jeez."

"Aaaaand Pat!" Pat popped out from behind the other silhouette. Judging by the way the moonlight bounced off of the back of her head, she was out of that stupid nun get-up. "What're you doing out here, anyway?"

"I was gonna go buy dinner."

"Oh, really? I saw you come in with your parents, aren't  _they_ supposed to make dinner?" The shadow of Trinh-Dieu cocked its head.

"Uh," Esther cleared her throat. "they don't, usually."

"Wow." Trinh-Dieu snorted. "Yikes. I mean, my parents aren't home right now. I handle food myself."

Esther blinked, and watched Trinh-Dieu lean over into the mist. She pulled up... something. Something slimy, and wiggling.  _Oh god._ "Hey Pat, watch this." Thank god it was dark out, because the only thing Esther heard was a horrible  _squelch_. At least she didn't get an eyeful of slug guts. "Mmh. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. They're everywhere, you should try one, carrot-top." Esther wrinkled her nose at the prospect.

"No thanks."

"More for me, then."

"Ezra," Pat gently nudged Trinh-Dieu out of the way. "There's a burger joint a little ways from here. Or you could come to my place for dinner."

Esther... didn't want to know what Pat's house looked like, frankly. But almost  _immediately_ she could hear Trinh-Dieu behind her, chanting.  _Visit! Visit! Visit!_ She realized she didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. 

"I'll come over."

"Sick." Trinh-Dieu tugged on Esther's sweater, pulling her in some random direction. Pat hung around behind them, then quietly pushing a door open. Immediately Esther was blasted headfirst by incredibly suspicious taxidermy. Two deer heads, on each side of a small hall, one of them with a top hat and the other with fake eyelashes and lipstick. Pat was wearing a parka and... shorts with legwarmers? She was gonna freeze to death.

Finally, Esther actually got to see Trinh-Dieu's face. Her eyes were  _particularly_ small, and downturned, like she was really pissed about something. Her nose, as well, was small. Everything about her face was small, including her eyebrows. Her cheek was dominated by a set of questionable scars, and less questionable pockmarks. She was wearing a trenchcoat and some Doc Martens. At least she had some damn pants on.

"Feel free to hang your stuff over here." Pat motioned towards... what appeared to be a three-horned goat head. Esther wrinkled her brow. She'd just keep her awful Hanukkah sweater on, for the time being, thanks very much. Trinh-Dieu had a vest on under her coat. The kind with a bunch of patches on it. Underneath was a Nirvana t-shirt. Pat was just wearing a light, flowing blouse. "Lemme introduce you to Mom and Pop." She tugged on Esther's sleeve, pulling her down a hall of strange creations. The most notable one was, of course, a rabbit, with butterfly wings glued to it, hanging from the ceiling on a translucent string. Through the back door of the hall was what appeared to be some kind of taxidermy workshop. A curly-headed, scrawny woman was hard at work on some kind of dancing pig with a tutu on. The woman looked up. She'd very clearly had some sort of face surgery done.

"Patricia! And Trinh-Dieu as well! And..." She cocked her head. "Who's that?"

"I'm Es--"

"This is Ezra Ross." Pat interrupted her. Pat's mom grinned, as well as she could with her botox-infused face muscles. 

"Nice to meet you! Are you part of the family that just moved in?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Are you Jewish?" She motioned towards Esther's sweater.

"On my mom's side, yeah."

"That's interesting. I have a lot of Jewish friends." Thankfully, she didn't continue that train of conversation and returned to futzing with the tutu-pig. "Say, Patricia, could you buy me more flesh-eating bugs tomorrow? I found a cat in the road that was just so very intriguing."

"Yes, mom." Pat grinned. "Is dinner almost ready?"

"Ask your father." Pat nodded, pushing into a different door. One that was far,  _far_ too close to that taxidermy workshop. It smelled... strange.

"Pop! What's cookin'?"

Her father was a tall, somewhat gangly and effeminate looking man, with a horrible 'KISS THE COOK' apron on. 

"Patricia, you didn't tell me you were havin' friends over." He sighed. "I would'a made more eggs."

"Oh, it's Breakfast-For-Dinner Night?"

"Yep. And as always, it-"

" _-is because we decided it is._ " Pat joined him in unison. This family was... inhumanly weird. Maybe Pat was an alien. That would explain a lot. "Is it almost done, at least? Trinh-Dieu already had something, anyway." Esther shuddered. Talking about a  _live slug_ like it was normal food just seemed... weird and horrible.

"Should be ready soon. Oh, hello, aren't you the most darling little thing!" He motioned towards Esther. "You've got so many freckles. Reminds me of myself as a child. What's your name, kiddo?"

"My na-"

"Ezra Ross." Trinh-Dieu interrupted her this time. When Esther turned, Trinh-Dieu was smirking. She  _totally knew_ that wasn't her name. "She just moved in on the other side of the building. In the house you and Mrs. Barnum used to live in."

Pat Barnum. Alright, then.

"Oogh," Mr. Barnum shuddered. "that apartment always gave me the willies. Couldn't stand it. You must be a stronger man than I." He dumped the eggs onto a wide plate, with some bacon and a few pieces of toast. "Breakfast-Dinner's ready, Alma!"

"Coming, sweetie!"

Mrs. Barnum ran in, peeling her gloves off of her hands and tossing them in the garbage. Pat quietly ushered Esther into a seat, stuck between her and Trinh-Dieu. Fucking wonderful. Mr. Barnum passed out some eggs and bacon. "Whoever's fastest is gonna end up with seconds, probably. So, Esther, where're you from?"

"Colorado." She pierced the yolk with her fork, watching the yellow fluid spill out. 

"Lovely! Say, would you like some wine?"

"Wh-" She rose her shoulders. No way would she become like her parents. "No thanks."

"Hit me!" Trinh-Dieu pounded a fist on the table. Mr. Barnum snorted, pouring her a glass. "Hell yeah."

"Trinh, if you keep doin' this you're gonna die before you're 30." Mr. Barnum said, clearly joking. She didn't respond, instead taking a sip and wiping her mouth. "Like it? That one's from France, it's a  _pinot noir_." 

"I'd give it, like, an 8 out of 10. A little bitter for my tastes."

Pat was laughing her ass off. Esther just felt... weird. She shoved an egg in her mouth. Pat was looking at... something. "Oh, hey, Pat, it's your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend..." She stuck her tongue out, grabbing a piece of bacon and opening the window. It was... that damn fucking dog. "Here we go. Good doggie. Chew slowly, this is people food. Good booooy." She patted its most likely flea-ridden head. Esther felt like it was staring at her.

"Should you really be feeding a stray dog...?"

"He's not a stray." Pat insisted. "His owners moved away without him. So he's everyone's dog now."

"...Okay, then."

"Do you have any ideas for a name?"

"Naked... Dog."

"...Nah. I'll think of something eventually. He has the most adorable little cat friend. He's really a gentle soul. By the way, Ez, what happened to your mouth?"

"Fell down. That's it."

"I hear that if you fall into a fairy ring, you'll get sent to an alternate dimension." Trinh-Dieu stated, matter-of-factly. "Sounds like fun, honestly. But my mom says not to screw with magic, because she had a friend who played with witchcraft, and her eyeball ended up in her butt." What the fuck was with these kids and their families? Somehow, Esther found, her ass-beating crazy dad was  _normal_ compared to these fucking people.

"Uh," Esther swallowed. "I should probably head home." She shoved all of the bacon strips in her mouth. "Muh dahh ish gon' be wai'in' fuh meh."

"Oh, alright! It's dark out, so Pat should walk you home--"

"Nuh fanksh." 

"Well, okay then. See you soon!" Mrs. Barnum waved.

"Yeah..." Hopefully they wouldn't see each other soon. Esther barreled her way out the door without making eye contact with the animals in the hall, stepping into the dark. The dog's silhouette was in the distance, against the mist. She shoved her way back into her own house. Very little was happening, which meant it was about time to take Little Esther and hide out in her room for the night... but first she kicked off her muddy boots. Not dealing with that again.

 


End file.
